Yap, you're reading it right, apparently Microsoft's Xbox 360 will be the winner of the next-generation consoles war, at least that's what we hear from financial consultancy firm Merrill Lynch via Gamasutra.

You PlayStation and Nintendo fans, don't get all worked up and don't take by storm Merrill Lynch headquarters, as the financial company predicts that this will happen in 2011. The Xbox 360 will have a 39% market share, followed by the PS3 with 34% and Wii securing the third spot with 27%. But isn't 2011 too far away? I want to know what will happen in a month's time, not 5 years from now.

By the time we reach 2011, we probably won't care that much about the PS3 or the Xbox 360 as I'm sure that Sony and Microsoft will develop other consoles (next-next generation console, but let's not get ahead of ourselves).

These market shares reported earlier are meant for the North American market, where Sony currently has a 69% market share. If we are to talk about Japan, that's a whole different story as Sony will still be market leader there with 50%, if we are to believe Merrill Lynch. Until some more predictions keep these figures in mind, maybe this financial consultancy company really knows what they are doing.